Spurs defender: Pochettino “like a father figure to me”

When Mauricio Pochettino arrived at White Hart Lane in 2014, left back Danny Rose was bordering on becoming a figure of fun, a fringe player living on the back of a wonderful debut goal against the old enemy.

Many thought Rose would leave the club that summer. Instead, to the surprise of just about every supporter, he signed a new five-year contract. The Yorkshireman hasn’t looked back since.

After Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Liverpool last weekend, Pochettino said: “From day one, I trusted in him.” You can certainly see why. Rose has perhaps been Tottenham’s most consistent since the Argentine’s arrival.

And now Rose has told the club’s official website Pochettino “has been like a father figure” to the entire Spurs squad.

He said: “It’s no secret when the manager came in that I was uncertain about my position here and rightly so, because the season before I didn’t do as well as I could have done.

“The manager came in and spoke with me, I was one of the first people he spoke to.

“We talked about a lot of things for about an hour and one of the first things he said was if I entered into his philosophy, he would make me into an England player, so he’s been true to his word.”